Supply teachers are needed now, perhaps more than ever before. With SARS-CoV-2 ripping through classrooms across the nation, schools are in need of teachers to cover absences to try to keep some semblance of “normality” for those children who are well enough to be in school. But is it a case of just supply and retired teachers simply turning up and slipping into the routine of an individual school?
Clearly not. Schools are under immense pressure at the moment and while most are striving for business as usual, as far as is possible, others are facing the real and present challenges of large numbers of children and staff being off with Covid. In addition, the promised deluge of retired teachers returning to the classroom has not happened, perhaps because of the inherent risks of Covid for the over 50s and the minimal mitigations for school aged children.
If you are considering a return to the classroom, a supply agency like Eteach can help you to find a school that matches your skills and experience. Your existing links with local schools will help too.
Loic Menzies, former Chief Executive of The Centre for Education and Youth, and previously a teacher and youth worker, has stepped back into the classroom temporarily. He explained, “When I realised how much pressure schools were likely to be under over the course of the Omicron wave, I signed up as a volunteer via Teach First, because that's how I'd trained. I had also let a friend working in a local group of schools know that I'd be happy to be on hand if needed. He put me in touch with a school that was particularly short staffed. The school was keen to have an extra pair of hands available to ease the pressure on teachers.”
It’s useful to do what preparation you can before landing in a school, especially if it has been some time since your previous stint at the chalkface. For Menzies, this involved a careful study of the school's staff handbook, particularly the safeguarding policy. “That gave me a good sense of the school's context, priorities and approach and ensured I was up to speed with key routines and practises,” he explained. “As a French native speaker, one of the things I've done in school is help out with conversation practice as pupils haven't had the same opportunity to practice spoken language with a French assistant this year. In order to do that I worked through the different questions that pupils might be asked and looked through the GCSE mark scheme so I could get a good sense of what the expectations were and how I could best help pupils to progress,” Menzies said.
Anyone returning to the classroom after some time away will notice changes. For Menzies one of the key differences was the number of children studying languages. “I taught pre-Ebacc so back then not many of my pupils were taking French whereas almost all pupils in the school I'm volunteering at are taking a language,” he told Eteach. “Aside from that, I've been relieved to see that connecting with pupils and building rapport with them is much the same as it always was, despite the advent of Instagram and Tik-Tok; initially I'd wondered whether it would be a completely different kettle of fish working with pupils born in the 21st Century.”
Easing back into school gently is important, rather than going straight for a full week in school. There is a shortage of supply teachers, so when you are ready to pick up the pace there are bound to be opportunities. For Menzies, “for the first couple of days it was important to get back into my stride and remember how to be ‘Mr Menzies’."
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has shifted the needs that schools currently have. While you may not want to get fully back into the classroom doing full days with all the responsibility that entails, do keep in mind that many schools would appreciate an extra pair of hands, especially if you know how schools function and what it takes to support children and young people. As Menzies explained, “A shortage of staff can mean teachers are constantly drafted in for extra lunch duties, or having to teach large, combined classes. Over time, that can push people to breaking point. So even if it's only a small thing, what I've heard is that having an additional experienced adult around who's happy to muck-in, can just ease that strain slightly.”
If you’re considering a return to the classroom while schools navigate the Omicron challenges, Eteach can support you.
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Loic Menzies is a specialist in education policy and research. He is a former teacher and youth worker and was previously Chief Executive of the Centre for Education and Youth. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Sheffield Institute of Education and an advisor to the Foundation for Education Development and Cambridge University Press and Assessment. You can follow him on twitter @LoicMnzs. His edited collection “Young People on the Margins: Priorities for Action in Education and Youth” was published by Routledge in 2021.
About the author
Elizabeth Holmes
After graduating with a degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Reading, Elizabeth Holmes completed her PGCE at the Institute of Education, University of London. She then taught humanities and social sciences in schools in London, Oxfordshire and West Sussex, where she ran the history department in a challenging comprehensive. Elizabeth specialises in education but also writes on many other issues and themes. As well as her regular blogs for Eteach and FEjobs, her books have been published by a variety of publishers and translated around the world. Elizabeth has also taught on education courses in HE and presented at national and international conferences.
